MOSCOW, June 30 (R-Sport) - Nico Rosberg on Sunday won a British Grand Prix marred by a series of technical failures from his rivals including F1 championship leader Sebastian Vettel.
The Mercedes driver had kept in touch with race leader Vettel until 10 laps from the end, when the Red Bull man suffered a gearbox failure and ground to a halt on the start grid.
"Woohoo! Yeah! Come on!" Rosberg yelled on the pit radio.
"Our team has done such a fantastic job. ... We're progressing all the time. It's a very special day for me and it's for my team and colleagues working in the factory," he said, referring to Mercedes' HQ just across the road from Silverstone.
Rosberg had to hold off a strong late charge from Mark Webber, who needed a replacement front wing after contact early on to finish an improbable second. It was the Australian's last British Grand Prix after announcing he would retire at the end of the season.
"The boys did a great job to put a fresh wing on at the start," Webber said.
When they crossed the line there were just 0.7 seconds between the top two. "I would have liked a few more laps at Nico, but that's the way it goes," Webber said.
Webber had earlier put a brave move on Kimi Raikkonen, who had to settle for fifth after Fernando Alonso also overtook him on the penultimate lap for third place.
Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton fought his way back to fourth place after being one of three drivers to suffer a burst left rear tire in the early stages.
"Fantastic job this weekend guys, it's a shame about the tire," the Mercedes driver said.
Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne was the next to have a rear left tire failure, admirably keeping control of his car at more than 190 miles per hour and pitting instantly on lap 15.
Felipe Massa suffered a similar fate in his Ferrari just two laps later as a sudden deflation sent the Brazilian spinning through a corner. He kept the engine running and rejoined the race with the backmarkers after a labored pitstop, though he managed to claw back to finish sixth.
The chaos forced the safety car to come out on the next lap to allow a clearance of tire debris from the track, while team technicians warned their drivers to keep off the kerbs.
When the action restarted, Vettel and Rosberg managed to put 15 seconds between themselves and the chasing pack, setting up what appeared to be a German one-two. But Vettel's car just gave up on lap 42.
"I lost drive, I lost the gearbox," said Vettel over the pit radio as he ground to a halt during a race for the first time this season.
Alonso's third place means he closes the gap to Vettel at the top of the drivers standings to 21 points.
"Overall I think it has been a very lucky race for us," Alonso said. "With Sebastian's problems we've been very lucky to recover some points."
Results:
1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)
6. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
7. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
8. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
9. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
11. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
12. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
13. Jenson Button (McLaren)
14. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
15. Charles Pic (Caterham)
16. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
17. Max Chilton (Marussia)
18. Giedo van der Garde (Caterham)
19. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) - retired
20. Sergio Perez (McLaren) - retired
21. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bul) - retired
22. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) - retired
